Linguistics Comps Spring 2004
Advanced Syntax Question


Infinitival Relatives

Consider the following:

(1)  Sue found a bucket to carry the water in.
(2)  I found a dress to wear to the party in my closet.
(3)  A bucket to carry the water in was found under the stairs.
(4)  A dress to wear to the party, I found in my closet.
(5)  It was a dress to wear to the party that I found in my closet.
(6)  A dress to wear to the party is in the closet.
(7)  A man to fix the sink is at the door.
(8)  There is a man to fix the sink at the door.
(9)  We were looking for a place to camp.
(10)  Sue found a bucket for Bob to carry the water in.
(11)  I found a dress for you to wear to the party in my closet.
(12)  A bucket for Bob to carry the water in was found under the stairs.
(13)  It was a dress for you to wear to the party that I found in my closet.

In these sentences, what are "a bucket to carry the water in",
"a dress to wear to the party", and "a man to fix the sink"?

What is their internal structure?  (Here you may have to guess, but guess
intelligently.)  Provide trees to illustrate your assumptions.

Propose an analysis (proposed Deep Structure and Transformational
Derivation).  Make sure your assumptions are clearly laid out and
justified.  Make sure the subcategorization restrictions of all verbs are
satisfied at Deep Structure.  Give the derivations for (3) and (8).

How does your analysis account for the ungrammaticality of the following?

(14) *A man for Bob to fix the sink is at the door.
(15) *There is a man for Bob to fix the sink at the door.

What do the following show about the Transformational operation involved
in the derivation of these sentences?

(16)  Here's a bucket for you to try to persuade Bob to carry the water in.
(17)  A new theorem for Bob to claim to be able to prove is going to be
      hard to find.

Does that operation obey island constraints?